A Mohan veena recital by Poly Varghese, a disciple of Pandit Viswa Mohan Bhatt, in Thrissur, also happened to be the maiden performance of the musician in his hometown. As such it drew a large crowd.
He was performing as part of ‘Chetanotsav 2016’, a programme in Thrissur, which featured two musical concerts –one Hindustani and one Carnatic.
Poly began his concert with an introduction, “Sohini has been the raga for me for the whole month of April. As of now, it is embedded in my body as I have been playing it in numerous concerts, workshops and seminars in Thailand and Australia before coming to Kerala.” And his scintillating performance was enough proof of this aspect.
Accompanied by Sunayna Ghosh from Kolkata on the tabla, Poly treated Sohini in the typical alap, jod and jhala pattern followed by gat. Sohini is audava-shadava raga as against its Carnatic counterpart Hamsanandi which is shadava-shadava.
Spontaneity and soulfulness were at their best in the two-hour recital. Moreover, it brought forth the mastery of the musician over the rare instrument. The opening notes revealed the basic mood of the evening raga that suggested a quest for yearning.
His skilful technique of sustaining swaras only by sliding, devoid of plucking, enthralled the audience. While scaling the upper sthayi, the swaras emerged in quick succession to disappear to infinity finally, a feat that elicited applause from rasikas. Rhythmic pulses in jod helped to add a new dimension to the raga.
A consummate mridangam artiste, Poly made it more colourful by introducing tisra and ghanta patterns to the basic teen taal in which the raga was played.
The tabla’s role during the gat is unbroken both in the vilambit and drut part. Interestingly, the advent of the drum in this part created a change in the ambience – from a melancholic one to one of nritta-like movements.
Sunayna’s fingers drummed out syllables noted for tonal and rhythmic purity. Commendable was the care she took to accompany the main musician throughout. One of the few female tabla artistes in the country, Sunayna is the disciple of veteran Pandit Shankar Ghosh.
After a 90-minute Sohini recital, Poly played a Kajri in Pilu. Kajri, a semi classical form popular in the Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, has its roots in the folk music of this region.
‘Samayamayilla polum’, excerpted from Kumaranasan’s ‘Karuna’, with which the musician wound up, was evocative of his affinity to the roots. It was presented in Kiravani.
Palakkad K.S. Narayana Swamy’s two-hour concert transported the rasikas to the heyday of Carnatic music when emphasis was on melody and vidwat. The dominating features of showmanship and technical wizardry, characteristic of many contemporary concerts, were conspicuous by their absence.
The octogenarian musician, a devotee of the Semmangudi bani, proved the efficacy of sticking to the format of a traditional concert (varnam to thillana) that evolved.
Amazing voice culture of the musician at this age took the audience by surprise right from the beginning. This was really an index of the perennial sadhakam and strict discipline of his lifestyle. Sans gesticulations, the streamline flow of effortless rendition was a rare experience to rasikas. Purity of sruti enhanced total appeal of his recital.
Narayana Swamy opened with Panthuvarali varnam ‘Sami Ninnenammi napai’, composed by Shadkala Narasayya in Adi. The crisp delivery sufficed to reveal his singular artistry. As he switched over to the alapana of Arabhi, one could discern his commendable brigha. The composition was Tyagaraja’s ‘Nadasudha rasambilanu’ in Roopakam. Niraval at ‘swaramulu’ and the concomitant swaras brought out the elegance of the raga. ‘Marivere gati’, a Syama Sastri composition in Anandabhairavi, Misra chap, too was prefaced by an elaboration of the raga thereby unravelling its exquisite beauty through myriad phrases. The two numbers highlighted their emotive facets as well. Mastery of sahithya was evident from the sangatis which were well demarcated by emphasis on select words. ‘Sukha Syamalu’ was taken for niraval.
The musician’s attraction towards Tyagaraja kritis was revealed when he chose the kriti ‘Marukelara O Raghava’ in Jayanthasree, Adi, followed by the centrepiece ‘Kaddanuvariki’ in Todi. The brief ‘Marukelara’ served as a contrast thereby augmenting the allure of the concert as a whole. C. Rajendran reproduced the raga with accurate precision on the violin. Percussionists K.M.S. Mani (mridangam) and Manjoor Unnikrishnan (ghatam) tagged a rhythmic flourish jointly in lieu of the conventional tani.
‘Kanthanodu chennu melle’, the famous Swati padam in Neelambari, Roopakam, was soothing. Narayana Swamy concluded with a thillana in Bridavani composed by Balamuralikrishna.
The concerts were held as part of the annual festival of Chetana Sangeet Natya Academy, Thrissur.
